to think that things in your supermarket trolley aren't yours until you have paid for them

[jandymaccomesback]

This morning in Tesco we kept passing a womanwith a child in a trolley. We first saw her in fruit and veg, as she peeled a banana and handed it to the child. Next time we saw her the child was eating from a packet of cheese strings. Finally we saw her opening a carton of juice. All of these things came off the shelf. DH was so enraged he wanted to tell the staff, but I persuaded him not to. To me this is wrong, even if you intend to pay,and definitely gives a message to the child that she can help herslf. AIBU?

[SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop]

Gwen - When ds is hungry he needs feeding! If I've got half a trolley full of shopping I would need to either go and put it all back, or take it and pay for it with ds upset the whole time. I'm not prepared to do that for absolutely no reason - if others are or don't need to then great.

[WidowWadman]

AWimbaway - while you're eating the stuff it is not foreseable whether you're planning to pay for it. Empty Wrappers in trolleys or broken into multipacks in the reduced/damage shelf attest to that.

[DodieSmith]

I do this all the time. I think you would look very foolish if you said something to staff.

[callow]

I have just seen this shopping as well.

I saw a women open up a dip and snack biscuit thing. I though she was going to give it to her child then I saw her tuck into herself!

I thought that she could have waited till the end of her shop to start eating. She might of had a medical condition in which she needed to eat, but if she were feeling that bad I would have thought she would have sat down and not continued to eat and do her shopping.

[LaWeasel]

It just seems an odd thing to get irrate about.

Personally, I felt that other shoppers would be far more inconvenienced if I spent my half hour shopping while my child sobbed hysterically and tried to throw herself out of the trolley then if I gave her an apple and paid for it later.

I don't think it was lazy parenting either, when she was older and could actually walk and reach shelves we did all the usual supermarket games and she understands now perfectly well that she has to wait until we have left to eat whatever we have bought. None of that was possible with a non-walking 17mth old.

[MrsHeffley]

Guill lucky you,my kids are like me (low blood sugar sends them crazy)-all kids aren't the same.

[IWantWine]

wow! so many responses I have not had time to read them all as yet!

I wouldnt be outraged but I do agree with your OH! Totally. If you want something, go and buy it before you consume it. You dont own it until you pay for it. Simple as!!!!!

[sausagesandmarmelade]

It seems to be just a bad habit that people get into....because they're convinced it's OK!

There's no excuse for it really....if you know your kids are going to be fractious and will feel peckish at the supermarket then feed them before you go or take a snack with you! (It's not rocket science is it)?

[AnyoneButLulu]

I'm quite capable of telling my children to wait when there's a good reason for them to wait, but I won't make them wait for a mid-morning snack just for the hell of it. They might get a snack of my choosing mid way round a shop if they were peckish and I felt it appropriate, in the full understanding that it was to be paid for later, and never as a "reward" for a tantrum. From a child behaviour POV it's no different from me pulling a snack out of my rucksack while we're on the tube.

In fact, thanks to Mr Ocado this rarely ever happened. But I regularly crack an orange juice bottle in the queue if I'm shopping on my own and feel a bit wobbly. If the supermarket doesn't mind, which they absolutely don't, and it's not costing you anything, which it absolutely isn't, then why on earth would you care?

[WidowWadman]

Maybe for you it's an odd thing to get irate about. But it annoys me because it makes it difficult to teach my daughter that sometimes you have to wait when she sees other parents letting their children eat whatever she wants.

It irates me in the same way as when I see people jaywalking while I'm waiting with my daughter for the green man.

So far I'm getting by with telling her that some people just are stupid/not nice, but it still just sets a bad example.

[AngryBeaver]

Oh shush! Seriously,he was enraged?!
I would love to know what he feels when someone stops to read the headline on a paper,or smells a flower in someone's garden..is he incandescent??!
Really,there are thing to be enraged about and then there are silly things that people stress over uneccessarily...people eating whilst shopping comes under the latter category.
If he keeps becoming aggitated over trivia,he will give himself constipation...

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

eating in the supermarket does not make one stupid or not nice surely. That is just teaching your child to be judgy surely.

[IWantWine]

SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop
Really?
So you embark on a shopping trip with the possibility that your child/children are going to be insatiably hungry before you get home???

Sorry, I am not being critical but I just really dont get that.

If it is really that 'urgent' why not go to the customer services and pay for some food for your child?

[SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop]

Erm sounds more like you setting an example if you are teaching your child that people who give their child an apple in the supermarket and pay for it on the way out are stupid/not nice .
And for the record my dd has been taught that she has to follow my rules and can't do things just because other people are doing them so if I insisted on waiting til I'd paid for stuff in the supermarket it wouldn't be an issue what anyone else was doing.

[WidowWadman]

Consuming something you don't own is stupid and not very nice. Call me judgy all you like.

[BeaOnSea]

When the DC were little I often had to finish work, pick them up from the CM then go to the supermarket to get food for a meal as there was nothing in the cupboard. So, yes, in those circumstances there was a possibility they might be hungry before we got home.

[ilovemydogandMrObama]

I love these threads!

It's not theft until someone leaves the store without paying, so wouldn't really worry about consuming food before going through check out.

[SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop]

IWantWine - my children both have fantastic appetites and out very big eater and hungry regularly.
The reason I don't go to customer services is because I am not breaking any law so long as I pay for my groceries before I leave the shop and I couldn't care less what anyone else thinks because it's none of their business.

[SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop]

Widowadman - good luck teaching your children to be insulting to people for very minor things. I'm sure they'll grow up to be as polite as you are.

[WidowWadman]

Spectral Probably - as long as they also grow up to believe that petty theft is not ok, I'm fine with that :0

[SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop]

But it's not theft unless you leave the shop without paying.

[TheControversialJessie]

But it's not theft. We've covered that...

[MustControlFistOfDeath]

It's a wonder your DH didn't make a citizens arrest if he was that enraged

It's not really something to get worked up over, is it?